Not My Place
by Lisa Smithers
Summary: There is a guest in the castle, a knight, whom the the royals at Camelot hope to impress in hopes that an alliance can be made between their two countries. With Gaius away, will Merlin be able to serve both Arthur and the knight as well as needed, even though the latter mistreats him?
1. Newcomer

_**A/N: I have recently discovered the wonderful world of "Merlin" and decided I wanted to try my hand at a fanfiction for him. The first chapter's a tad dull, but it will get better soon. I hope to delve more into both of their personalities, and take a close look at Merlin's loyalty to Arthur.**_

* * *

"You called for me, sire?" Merlin looked between Arthur and the man standing beside him.

"Ah, Merlin." Arthur nodded, acknowledging his presence, but immediately turned to the other man beside him. "I told you he would turn up soon, did I not?"

"You did indeed, my lord." The man agreed. It was at this time, Arthur's attention returned to Merlin.

"This is Sir Calfry." Arthur clapped a hand onto Merlin's shoulder. "For the time being, you're to be servant to him in addition to your normal duties to me. Do you understand?"

"But, sire-" Merlin began to protest, but was cut off.

"Do you understand?" Arthur repeated. After a moment's hesitation, Merlin tilted his head down slightly. "Good. And to ensure that you are attentive enough to him, I have given him the ability to punish you, or reward you as he deems necessary."

"Will that be all, sire?" Merlin asked.

"No. When I went for a ride this morning I noticed that the stalls need mucked out." Arthur said.

"Yes, sire." Merlin bowed slightly then turned to walk away.

* * *

After making sure Merlin was not within hearing distance, Arthur spoke once more to Sir Calfry.

"He may be lacking in punctuality on occasion, but I've never had a more loyal nor harder working servant." Arthur said. "He may act like an unintelligible fool, but I've always gotten the feeling that he's cleverer than he'll have people know. I know he'll serve you well in the time that you're here."

"I expect he will, you obviously think highly of him." Sir Calfry said.

"I trust him with my life." Arthur said. "You'll keep what has been said away from his ears?"

"Of course, my lord."

* * *

Arthur ran to catch up with Merlin, only to find that he was already mucking out the stables.

Pausing in the door way, he squinted his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm mucking out the stables, like you told me." Merlin said, confused as to why Arthur was questioning him.

"You never get on with it so quickly..."

"If I am to serve Sir Calfry as well, then I've got to get my previously given duties done early."

"Right, right." Arthur said. "And about Sir Calfry,"

"Yes sire?"

"He's acting as an ambassador for his country, it's all hush hush for the time being, so don't you dare breathe a word of this to anyone. My father hopes to strike an alliance with their king." Arthur said. "Don't mess this up, Merlin. The good of the kingdom is at stake."

Merlin nodded.

* * *

After finishing his usual chores, he went to see what Sir Calfry would require of him. There was something about that man, something about him, that made Merlin fairly confident that his experience as the man's servant would not be a good one.

Merlin took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

"Come in." The gruff voice echoed in the hallway. Merlin slowly pushed the door open and stepped in. "Merlin." The man nodded in greeting, but a smirk was developing on his face.

"I was wondering if you were in need of anything, Sir Calfry." Merlin said. "What ever you require of me, I will gladly do."

"Ah, yes. My armor could use a scrub, and my boots need polished. Feed and water my horse, and give her a nice rub down, won't you? My tack could use a deep cleaning as well. I don't want a speck of grime on it. My sword needs sharpening and my clothes need washed too." Sir Calfry ordered.

 _How am I going to get all that done before tomorrow?_ Merlin thought, nodding nevertheless. He turned to leave, but Sir Calfry's voice called to him once again.

"And Merlin,"

"Yes, Sir Calfry?"

"Do that for the rest of my men too, I'm sure they would appreciate it. Shouldn't be too hard, there's only three of them. " Sir Calfry said. "And be quick about it. I want it all ready by tomorrow morning."

"Yes sir."

 _It will be a very, very long night._

* * *

Merlin struggled to carry the stacks of armor back to the knight's room. Setting them down gently as he could, he exited the room, and went down to the stable to tend to the men's horses. After feeding and watering each, he sat about rubbing them down, brushing them until their coat shined.

 _If I must do this, I will do it well._

Sharpening the swords were next on the list, and after collecting them all, a thought entered his mind.

 _I forgot to get Arthur ready for bed!_

* * *

There was a knock on Arthur's door, then Merlin walked in.

"Finally, Merlin!" Arthur said. "Where have you been?! I've been waiting for half an hour!"

"Sorry, sire." Merlin said. "I've been tending to Sir Calfry's needs."

"Ah." Arthur paused. "Well, good, then."

Merlin quickly prepared the prince for bed.

"Will that be all, sire?"

"Yes, Merlin. Go get some rest." Arthur said, as he slid into his bed. "You're going to need it."

"May I ask why, sire?"

"One of the knights is ill, he'll have to miss training tomorrow." Arthur said.

 _No, please no._

"And... what does that have to do with me?" Merlin asked.

Arthur smirked.

"I'll need a replacement _dummy_."


	2. The Awakening of a Problem

Merlin's arms ached as he scrubbed the last of the tack.

"Almost done." he muttered. He finished the tack and started on the next task.

* * *

Finally, he was finished.

Merlin flopped onto his bed, only to feel the sun on his skin moments later.

"It's morning." He stated. There was no answer, as there was no one else to hear him.

It took Merlin a moment to make out what it was he was supposed to do.

"I... need to wake up Arthur." He said dully, his mind obviously not working at full speed just yet. "Maybe catch a nap afterwords..."

Merlin sauntered off to the prince's bedroom, gently opening the door then shutting it behind him. He walked over to the window and pulled open the curtains, hearing Arthur groan and roll over almost immediately.

"Not now Merlin!" He mumbled. "I'm sleeping. Stop waking me up..."

"That's sort of the point, sire." Merlin chuckled. "You've got to prepare to train the recruits this morning."

Arthur squeezed his eyes shut and dropped the pillow over his face.

"The recruits can wait..." Arthur said.

"Considering the fact that you made them train an extra hour for being two minutes late, I don't think they'd take too kindly to you being late because you didn't want to get out of bed."

Arthur pulled the pillow off his head and sat up.

"Stop being right, Merlin." He groaned, throwing the pillow at Merlin's head. "It's extremely annoying."

Merlin didn't answer, instead putting together the prince's outfit for the day. He stacked the armor on the table in the usual manner, and prepared to put it on the prince.

Within a few minutes the prince was dressed and ready. Arthur noting with a frown that the process had been swifter than usual.

"Are you anxious to be somewhere, Merlin?" Arthur asked. "You're more... efficient than usual."

"I've got to wake and dress Sir Calfry as well, sire." Merlin said, as he inspected Arthur's sword, then slid it into the sheath.

"Ah, yes, well." Arthur nodded. "Better be on your way then, shouldn't you?"

"Yes, sire." Merlin lingered in the room a for a moment, seeming to forget the previous conversation.

"Well go on!" Arthur gestured towards the door.

Shaking out of the daze, Merlin did as asked.

 _I've got to get some sleep._ He thought.

* * *

Merlin approached Sir Calfry's door, steeling himself as he did so. He knocked on the door and received a gruff "Enter!"

He slowly opened the door, jumping a little when he saw Sir Calfry standing right in front of it.

"You're late." Sir Calfry said. "You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago to wake me and help prepare for training! Instead you come with barely enough time to assist me with the pathetic armor you were told to clean up!"

"I'm sorry, sir." Merlin said. "It was very late, and I-"

"Don't make excuses boy!"

"But Calfry-"

"That's _Sir_ Calfry to you, you insolent fool!"

"Sorry, Sir Calfry, but-"

"I told you not to make an excuse!"

Sir Calfry grabbed the nearest thing he could find, which happened to a blunt wooden training sword, and brought it down across Merlin's shoulder.

The unexpected blow knocked Merlin to the ground, him yelping slightly.

"A good servant treats their master with respect, boy." Sir Calfry sneered. "See that you learn to do so."

"Yes, sir." Merlin said, closing his eyes momentarily to fend off the pain before getting up.

"Go! Get! You're too late to do anything here," Sir Calfry thrust hand towards the door. "'might as well get on with your work."

Merlin hesitated in the door way for a moment, fearing he was being tricked into making another mistake.

"Go!"

Merlin dashed out the door, and down to the stables. It was Monday. Mucking day.

* * *

Scoop after scoop, hour after hour, one intake of despicable smelling air after another.

 _How can the horses leave this much muck in 3 days?!_

A sharp pain split up Merlin's shoulder causing him to wince.

 _At least he used a training sword, and not a real one._ Merlin thought.

Even though the wooden rod had only touched him once, his entire shoulder was already dark with bruising.

Merlin adjusted his grip, struggling to keep working, painful though it was.

 _Have to get this done, then I have too..._ Merlin thought for a moment, trying to remember what he needed to do next.

 _Arthur. I have to train with Arthur. Yay._

As sarcastic as Merlin was aloud, he was even more sarcastic within his own mind. In fact, he spoke the language quite fluently.

He walked out to the training yard, where the prince was already waiting.

"Hurry up Merlin!" Arthur said. "We don't have all day!"

"Coming, sire!" Merlin quickly tossed a set of chain mail over himself, doing his best to ignore the pain it caused his shoulder. He grabbed a helmet and sword from the rack, before nearly dropping it.

 _It's my right arm that's injured... How can I fight?_

"Merlin!" Arthur twirled his sword impatiently.

"Just a moment!" Merlin called back.

Quickly, Merlin grabbed what appeared to be the lightest sword, before realizing that it was still too much for his injured arm. He tossed it to his left hand, then ran out to meet Arthur.

 _This will have to do for now._

* * *

 **A/N: And there's chapter two! Okay, so, in the next chapter we're going to see both a bit of stupidity and brilliance in Arthur. Funny how he can possess both at the same time, isn't it? A brilliant tactician and strategist, but also very impulsive on occasion.**


End file.
